Growth may not always be good news.

When Dr. Krystyna Ostrowska joined the staff of The Mississauga Hospital in 1994 as the head of medical microbiology laboratory and infectious diseases consultant, she and one infection control practitioner dealt with the occasional case of tuberculosis or outbreak of Norwalk community diarrhea.

Since then her staff has grown to six full time Infection Prevention and Control practitioners, the result of not just amalgamation with Queensway General Hospital but, rather, of need for management of major infectious disease outbreaks from SARS to C. Difficile to superbugs.

“The  involvement of the infection prevention and control (IPAC) team in patient care has grown exponentially. Nowadays, there is the issue of a pandemic influenza hovering over us while, at the same time, we’re focused on control of C. Diff, the new kid on the block. The outbreaks and critical infection control issues overlap and add more layers to complexity of patient care.

She adds that her team is “branching off into all kinds of areas that weren’t much of an issue 10 or 15 years ago.”

The team, for example, includes a part-time practitioner involved with Trillium’s redevelopment to ensure that the design and construction reflect best practices from an infection control perspective.  “We’re like Bell Canada – call before you dig!”

To lessen current problems with super bugs, Dr. Ostrowska says patients should have single rooms with designated toilets in a modern facility .Everyone should wash their hands before and after contact with patient and environment.  Antibiotics should only be used when needed. Environmental cleaning should happen on a consistent basis.

As it is, old buildings tend to be cluttered and difficult to keep clean and, more importantly, it’s difficult to change people’s behaviours and attitudes.

Even so, Dr. Ostrowska says Trillium has come a long way. “We’re nowhere near the peak of C. diff outbreak  and are for now below the national average.”  She says that recent initiatives like decluttering and ” just clean your  hands “campaign have helped.

“We saw a dramatic drop in other types of infections during SARS,” she says.  “That’s a good marker of the difference when we follow proper precautions .”

Dr. Ostrowska, who started her career at Wellesley before joining the staff at Mississauga, credits her team – both the IPAC practitioners and the microbiology lab technologists – for creating a co-operative environment.

“The technologists will always work with you and accommodate your  patients’ needs,” she says.  “During the C. Diff outbreak the lab quickly adopted best rapid screen test and run it three times a day.  “That’s a rapid response lab” in my opinion “.  They are patient centered and work well with the infection control team.  Whenever we need to do something on an urgent basis, the lab is there saying ‘no problem’.

“I’m very happy to work in that kind of environment.”